Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks to offer Atal Pension Yojana

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The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a pension scheme established by the government. It gives you a pension ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month depending on how much you contribute to it. You get this pension after the age of 60. In a recent announcement, the Finance Ministry has permitted Payments Banks and Small Finance Banks to offer APY to their customers.

Currently, they are available with all PSU and private banks like State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

What are Payments Banks and Small Finance Banks?

Payments Banks are banks which are allowed to accept deposits up to Rs 1 lakh and make and receive payments. They cannot give out loans. Prominent examples include Paytm and Airtel Money.

Small Finance Banks can accept deposits and give out loans. However, they have smaller capital requirements. These feature banks such as Equitas Small Finance Bank, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank and AU Small Finance Bank. Many of these were earlier microfinance companies.

Both Payments Banks and Small Finance Banks, due to their small flexible character, have a wider reach than traditional banks. They are able to cater to customers in remote locations and in the unorganised sector which makes them ideal for APY.

There are 11 payments banks and 10 small finance banks in India.

What is the APY structure?

You can join the APY from the age of 18 to 40 and your monthly contribution to it will be set according to your joining age and target pension amount. The later you join the scheme, the higher will be your monthly contribution. These contributions are debited directly from your bank account.

The APY is primarily aimed at the unorganised sector and low-income earners. However, anyone can sign up for this scheme. You can get more information about the APY, here. You can also sign up for the APY online at enps.nsdl.com.